This invention relates to a dental stent and more specifically to a sub-gingival tissue, bone supported, mini-dental implant surgical stent and method of using same.
It is known to use dental implants to replace missing teeth in a patent's mouth using various procedures. Dental implant procedures generally involve drilling a pilot hole into the jaw bone of a patient and inserting an implant into the hole provided. The crown is then cemented to the top section of the implant to complete the procedure. There are various prior art stents used as drill guides for drilling the initial pilot hole. These prior art procedures usually require the purchase of high-tech, very expensive apparatus. The pilot hole in an implant procedure is critical since it provides the hole into which the implant will be based and must be drilled along an acceptable path to insure maximum strength to the eventual implant. The larger mini-implant surgical stents in use today are fabricated with thick vacuum formed plastic that covers the biting surfaces of many teeth adjacent to the surgical site. These stents, by virtue of their size and thickness above the teeth, drastically reduce access to the surgical site, especially in the posterior molar regions where the tongue and cheek muscles already reside making multiple instrumentation procedures exceedingly difficult, if possible at all.
In addition to the large stent, a directional device with a three inch long handle is required to help direct the pilot drill. Not only does it restrict vision even further, the long “lever” easily torques the stent right or left and is difficult to hold steady when the surgeon has to hold the drill at the proper angle with one hand, hold the directional device's handle with the other, keep the stent down without twisting it left or right, all the while fighting the tongue and cheek muscles from throwing the bone drill off line. A water syringe and suction tip are thrown into the mix, reducing vision further. It is almost impossible in these prior art procedures to see if the pilot drill is entering at the right spot or at the right angle. Getting four or five mini implants into their proper positions and at a 90 degree angle to the biting surfaces of the adjacent teeth often becomes a nightmare for the surgeon and patient alike. These are the experiences several dentists have had that convinced the present inventor to find a better way. Other prior art surgical stents require expensive computer imaging, 3D CT scans, and/or computer assisted digital x-ray images, as integral to stent fabrication. Time consuming and expensive systems such as these are the sort of items that have kept implant dentistry out of financial reach of the average patient and are contrary to the mission of the mini-implant dentistry, which is to bring the benefits of implant dentistry to other than the very wealthy patients. Prior art stents do not (nor is it their intention) provide the accuracy necessary to cement a permanent crown the same day as the surgery; the present invention can accomplish this.
The simplicity of the present bone supported surgical stent in both design and function, as well as its low cost, offer a remarkable unique solution for the accurate placement of implants and immediate placement of teeth (crowns).
Several prior implant guides and procedures are known such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,260,383; 5,133,660; 5,320,529; 5,350,297; 5,556,278; 5,613,852; 5,630,717; 5,725,376; 5,915,962; 5,927,982; 5,967,777; 6,296,483; 6,382,975; 6,626,667; 6,672,870; 6,814,575; 6,869,282 and 6,869,283. In all of these patents, terms, materials, procedures and technical terminology are used which will form a foundation for known technical terms and disclosures that may be used in describing portions of the present invention.